Four weeks before the EU Commission issues a progress report on Turkey, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called on recently-elected Turkish President Abdullah Gül to keep his country firmly on the reform track.

"I expect that he (Gül) leads the transformation process and ensures that fundamental freedoms exist in all aspects of life and in all corners of Turkey," Rehn told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag on Sunday, Oct. 7.

He assured Ankara that the EU's upcoming progress report on Turkey would be "fair and balanced."

Turkey implemented several reforms to win the green light for EU accession talks in October 2005. The country has said it remains fully committed to joining the European Union.

But the country's EU bid has been marred by Ankara's refusal last year to grant trade privileges to Cyprus as well as flagging efforts to push laws guaranteeing freedom of expression.

The latter is expected to take center stage in November's EU progress report with little sign that Turkey is pursuing an amendment or withdrawal of article 301, which can be used to prosecute writers for "insulting Turkishness."

Prosecution of writers "not acceptable"

"It is a human and moral issue. It is not acceptable that writers like Orhan Pamuk and Elif Safak are prosecuted based on this article," Rehn told Turkish television station, NTVMSNBC.

Before the case against him was dropped, Pamuk was tried in Turkey last year for telling a Swiss newspaper that 1 million Armenians had died in Turkey during World War One and 30,000 Kurds had died in recent decades.

Critics of the controversial article also say that Turkish Armenian editor and journalist Hrant Dink was murdered last year after being singled out because of his prosecution under the law.

Recent efforts by Turkey's ruling party to change the country's constitution also should not delay reforms in expanding freedoms of expression and religion, Rehn added.

"The changes (to the constitution) can be a method for expanding fundamental rights and freedoms. But the preparations should not delay the realization of freedoms of expression or religion," he said.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has previously said the constitution will strengthen individual rights and freedoms, but Turkish officials say article 301 will not be revised or overwritten in the new document.

Brussels softening stance towards Turkey?

Despite Turkey's faltering reform drive last year, there are signs that Brussels is softening its attitude towards the large EU candidate and its new political leadership.

This week, a draft resolution on Turkey's reform process was passed in the European Parliament without much criticism.

Last week, EU parliamentarians were also confronted with a study released by the Italian Institute for International Affairs and a Turkish foundation which concluded that the debate over Turkey's EU membership was often marked by prejudices.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Turkey has largely been perceived as a country influenced by Islam, an attitude that has ignored the nation's secular traditions, the study's authors said.